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The nightingale has a lyre of gold

Recording details: May 2006
All Saints' Church, East Finchley, London, United Kingdom
Produced by Mark Brown
Engineered by Julian Millard
Release date: March 2007
Total duration: 1 minutes 30 seconds

Reviews

'This beautifully recorded disc is a welcome addition to a relatively neglected area of the Delius discography. Delius composed some 62 songs, of which Yvonne Kenny and her sensitive partner Piers Lane have chosen 25; they seem completely attuned to their world, all atmospheric yet achieved with the utmost economy of means' (BBC Music Magazine)

'These attractive songs are the music of a passionate young romantic … there are faint echoes of Grieg and Wagner, even, in a group of delicately atmospheric Verlaine settings, and also of Fauré and Chausson. Yet so distinctive was Delius’s sinuous harmonic style that even the simplest song could be by no one else … Yvonne Kenny is, as ever, a scrupulous, sensitive artist, always alive to mood and character. She vividly catches the bardic desolation of Twilight Fancies, the sensuality of In the Garden of the Seraglio and the wayward charm of The nightingale has a lyre of gold. Her poised, soft singing is heard to beautiful effect in the Verlaine songs, and in an exquisite setting of Ben Jonson’s So white, so soft, so sweet is she' (The Daily Telegraph)

'Kenny's voice remains a peachy, beautiful implement … she brings sensual colours to both word and tone; and she relishes the decadent voluptuousness of Verlaine's French … as with most of Hyperion's song recordings—no company is more experienced in this field—the balance of voice and piano is ideal and one can well imagine oneself at the Wigmore Hall in the company of Kenny and Lane' (International Record Review)

'This attractive recital of settings … Kenny's control of line is rock solid and her way with the music's shifting moods admirably precise. Piers Lane's accompaniments, too, are immaculate' (Classic FM Magazine)

'Kenny's voice and Lane's accompaniments are well recorded, very lifelike without being too close … the best available right now, and therefore recommended to admirers of his music and to Lieder collectors willing to stray a bit from the beaten path' (Fanfare, USA)

'Yvonne Kenny's vibrant, affecting timbre is just right for this repertory, tracing the lines (both musical and poetic) with expressive finesse. Only in 'To Daffodils', following its adventurously winding, climbing vocal line, is one struck by the difficulties that lurk in these pages, and the Australian soprano dispatches them with ease, always keeping the lightness of mood and delicacy of sentiment required. Much the same can be said for her collaborator, Piers Lane, who excels at the piano in suggesting Delius's light haze of orchestral patina' (Opera News)

'This is a peach of a disc' (The Delius Society Journal)

Recording details: May 2006
All Saints' Church, East Finchley, London, United Kingdom
Produced by Mark Brown
Engineered by Julian Millard
Release date: March 2007
Total duration: 1 minutes 30 seconds